Can't play a game on both Deck and PC

[CorruptComputer]

I often just leave an idle game open on my main PC when I leave the house, in this case lets say NGU Idle. This is an entirely free game, but because this entirely free game is running on my PC I can't play any other game on my Deck when I'm on the go because the "license" is already being used.

Could this be changed so that playing a FREE game doesn't stop you from playing a different game on a different system?

Edit:

I also really don't understand this weird limitation. Why would, for example, playing Elden Ring on my PC use up my license to play LEGO Star Wars on my Deck? They are entirely different games with different licenses, why does one effect the other at all??

[Boblin the Goblin]

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

Well, looks like you'll have to choose between your desktop and Deck.

Yes? That is the point I'm trying to make, currently playing games on the go with the Deck has a terrible UX for people that play idle games. I am specifically calling this out so that hopefully someone at Valve will take notice.

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to have a free game open on your PC and play something else on the go. There is no license being used there, the game is FREE so it shouldn't stop me from playing a game that I PAID FOR on the Deck.

There is, it's called the Steam ToS that does not allow account sharing. Account Sharing is considered more than one machine using the account simultaneously.

This is applied to everything in your Steam library.

[CorruptComputer]

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

There is, it's called the Steam ToS that does not allow account sharing.

Its not account sharing though... I am the ONLY person using my account. I live alone, so when I'm gone there is no one else using my PC. I really don't think you understand what I'm talking about here, please re-read what was said.

[Boblin the Goblin]

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

There is, it's called the Steam ToS that does not allow account sharing.

Its not account sharing though... I am the ONLY person using my account. I live alone, so when I'm gone there is no one else using my PC. I really don't think you understand what I'm talking about here, please re-read what was said.

Cool, that doesn't matter. And yes, I completely understand what you said.

This is what Steam has to do to make sure people don't share accounts. Doesn't matter if you are the only person using both machines. It's only one account playing on one machine at a time.

[GeneralClayman]

Talked about this a lot before launch. You're basically tied to turning wifi off or offline mode on

[kc]

you can also try 'remote play', should be fine for ngu idle

[Boblin the Goblin]

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

Well, looks like you'll have to choose between your desktop and Deck.

Yes? That is the point I'm trying to make, currently playing games on the go with the Deck has a terrible UX for people that play idle games. I am specifically calling this out so that hopefully someone at Valve will take notice.

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to have a free game open on your PC and play something else on the go. There is no license being used there, the game is FREE so it shouldn't stop me from playing a game that I PAID FOR on the Deck.

There is a license being used there. The Game you want to play in the Deck is using a single use license.

Therefore(I hope you're able to follow this far) you bought the ability to only play on one machine on your account at a time.

Again, you were told a workaround, putting your deck in offline mode.

[CorruptComputer]

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

There is a license being used there. The Game you want to play in the Deck is using a single use license.

Therefore(I hope you're able to follow this far) you bought the ability to only play on one machine on your account at a time.

I'm not trying to play the same game in two different places. I'm trying to leave a free idle game open on my PC at home and play something else entirely, for example LEGO Star Wars.

So lets take the scenario you suggested there, say I have NGU Idle (a free game) open on my PC at home. Why does that use the license for LEGO Star Wars? They are entirely different games and one should not effect whether you can play the other.

"The Game you want to play in the Deck is using a single use license." Yes I know, I'm not trying to play the same game in two places at once. This should still be valid for a single use license, as the game I'm trying to play isn't being played anywhere else at the moment.

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

Again, you were told a workaround, putting your deck in offline mode.

And again I will tell you, playing in offline mode is not a valid solution. This will make all the achievements pop at the same time when you come back online, making it look like you used SAM, and you will get banned from achievement leaderboards for this.

[CorruptComputer]

kc eredeti hozzászólása:

you can also try 'remote play', should be fine for ngu idle

I don't want to access NGU Idle, I want to leave that open on my PC when I'm gone from home and play something else on my deck while I'm out.

[Boblin the Goblin]

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

There is a license being used there. The Game you want to play in the Deck is using a single use license.

Therefore(I hope you're able to follow this far) you bought the ability to only play on one machine on your account at a time.

I'm not trying to play the same game in two different places. I'm trying to leave a free idle game open on my PC at home and play something else entirely, for example LEGO Star Wars.

So lets take the scenario you suggested there, say I have NGU Idle (a free game) open on my PC at home. Why does that use the license for LEGO Star Wars? They are entirely different games and one should not effect whether you can play the other.

"The Game you want to play in the Deck is using a single use license." Yes I know, I'm not trying to play the same game in two places at once. This should still be valid for a single use license, as the game I'm trying to play isn't being played anywhere else at the moment.

KittenGrindr eredeti hozzászólása:

Again, you were told a workaround, putting your deck in offline mode.

And again I will tell you, playing in offline mode is not a valid solution. This will make all the achievements pop at the same time when you come back online, making it look like you used SAM, and you will get banned from achievement leaderboards for this.

Never said you were trying to play the same game.

The account is only allowed to be running games on one machine at a time, that's the single use license in play.

Playing offline is a valid solution. There is not point in stretching the trust of publishers by allowing what is considered account sharing for a niche amount of people in achievement leaderboards.

[Boblin the Goblin]

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

kc eredeti hozzászólása:

you can also try 'remote play', should be fine for ngu idle

I don't want to access NGU Idle, I want to leave that open on my PC when I'm gone from home and play something else on my deck while I'm out.

Then leave the PC online and put the Deck in offline mode.

[Moskeeto]

Does the idle game let you launch it directly from the .exe without Steam running? There's quite a few DRM-free games on Steam that work this way.

[GeneralClayman]

Theres also getting the games off of a different launcher/ service. Steam does allow you to run multiple games at once as long as it's on the same device. They just check if it isn't your account being active twice on different machines. I suggested a way to mark a steam deck and it's owner to imply such a feat of running multiple different games on 2 devices (one actively played like a Moba, TBS, etc and the other one that just doesn't continue unless you interact with it, like idlers, solo / offline tbs games, etc)
Came back to the same issue of valve and devs not wanting to aid "account sharing" more than already possible. If you're using steam your only way to do what you want is trough playing in offline mode on the deck. Otherwise try to run non steam games. They do allow that
((You also cannot use a 2nd account to "lend" a game trough family share. It expects the main account to not be in-game))

[Creepio]

TL;DR

OP is right. Valve needs to allow games to run on your Desktop PC and also your Steam Deck simultaneously, as the Steam Deck should be considered a "mobile handheld companion gaming PC" and not just simply a "mobile handheld gaming PC".

---

Okay so, I just wanna agree with OP up and front. 🙂 You should be able to have a free game running on your PC at home, and then play any other game on your Steam Deck, regardless of where you're located in the world.

It is an unnecessary restriction, and it should be lifted, or modified in some way.

The Steam Deck is unlike a Stationary Desktop Computer, in that it is a complimentary handheld device. You **should** be able to leave games running on your PC at home, and then still be able to play games on your Steam Deck, without having to go into offline mode.

I had a similar issue when I first got my Steam Deck. I left 🚀 Rocket League running on my PC at home by accident, and I was unable to play Rocket League on my Steam Deck, making things quite annoying for me. I couldn't figure out how to close the game from my Steam Deck and it would've been nice to be able to at least do that since Rocket League sitting at the menu idle is unnecessary.

And before anybody says anything, this is a **very** rare occurrence for me. I **never** leave intensive games running on my desktop PC unless it is a pure accident. I try not to do that because I do not like my PC getting hot while I'm away, and that is a waste of electricity and reduces lifespan of system components. I am a human being, and as such, am subject to making the occasional accident. The only time I'll leave a game running on my desktop PC is if it is putting very little strain on the CPU/GPU and having a nominal effect on temps. And besides, all of that should be irrelevant anyway, since Valve wants you to be able to remote play your games on your Steam Deck, which means that your desktop gaming PC will be launching games while you're away from it, and getting hot unattended.

However, this differs slightly from what OP is suggesting. OP is suggesting he keep a game running on his PC so that he can collect achievements and continue playing games on his Steam Deck while away from his PC. This is an absolutely ridiculous restriction for Steam to have, as idle games like Cookie Clicker do exist, and just because others might not understand/appreciate/play these types of games, doesn't mean they shouldn't exist and shouldn't be played in that way.

And putting the game into offline mode and then going online, only to have a bunch of achievements get you potentially banned, sounds absolutely terrible.

A **real** solution to this problem should be proposed, instead of people suggesting complete unsympathetic/unempathetic non-answers like choosing between your Desktop and your Steam Deck.

Do you think Valve wants their customers to think they have to choose between a Steam Deck and a Desktop PC? 😂

"🤡 Buy the Steam Deck, it will make your Desktop PC more restrictive 🤡" (sarcasm)

If I were Valve, internally, they should be thinking of the Steam Deck as a "mobile handheld companion gaming PC". If they're not doing that, or not planning to do that, they need to rethink some things, in my opinion. 👍

Just my 2cents, take it or leave it. 🙂

[GeneralClayman]

Creepio eredeti hozzászólása:

TL;DR

OP is right. Valve needs to allow games to run on your Desktop PC and also your Steam Deck simultaneously, as the Steam Deck should be considered a "mobile handheld companion gaming PC" and not just simply a "mobile handheld gaming PC".

---

Okay so, I just wanna agree with OP up and front. 🙂 You should be able to have a free game running on your PC at home, and then play any other game on your Steam Deck, regardless of where you're located in the world.

It is an unnecessary restriction, and it should be lifted, or modified in some way.

The Steam Deck is unlike a Stationary Desktop Computer, in that it is a complimentary handheld device. You **should** be able to leave games running on your PC at home, and then still be able to play games on your Steam Deck, without having to go into offline mode.

I had a similar issue when I first got my Steam Deck. I left 🚀 Rocket League running on my PC at home by accident, and I was unable to play Rocket League on my Steam Deck, making things quite annoying for me. I couldn't figure out how to close the game from my Steam Deck and it would've been nice to be able to at least do that since Rocket League sitting at the menu idle is unnecessary.

And before anybody says anything, this is a **very** rare occurrence for me. I **never** leave intensive games running on my desktop PC unless it is a pure accident. I try not to do that because I do not like my PC getting hot while I'm away, and that is a waste of electricity and reduces lifespan of system components. I am a human being, and as such, am subject to making the occasional accident. The only time I'll leave a game running on my desktop PC is if it is putting very little strain on the CPU/GPU and having a nominal effect on temps. And besides, all of that should be irrelevant anyway, since Valve wants you to be able to remote play your games on your Steam Deck, which means that your desktop gaming PC will be launching games while you're away from it, and getting hot unattended.

However, this differs slightly from what OP is suggesting. OP is suggesting he keep a game running on his PC so that he can collect achievements and continue playing games on his Steam Deck while away from his PC. This is an absolutely ridiculous restriction for Steam to have, as idle games like Cookie Clicker do exist, and just because others might not understand/appreciate/play these types of games, doesn't mean they shouldn't exist and shouldn't be played in that way.

And putting the game into offline mode and then going online, only to have a bunch of achievements get you potentially banned, sounds absolutely terrible.

A **real** solution to this problem should be proposed, instead of people suggesting complete unsympathetic/unempathetic non-answers like choosing between your Desktop and your Steam Deck.

Do you think Valve wants their customers to think they have to choose between a Steam Deck and a Desktop PC? 😂

"🤡 Buy the Steam Deck, it will make your Desktop PC more restrictive 🤡" (sarcasm)

If I were Valve, internally, they should be thinking of the Steam Deck as a "mobile handheld companion gaming PC". If they're not doing that, or not planning to do that, they need to rethink some things, in my opinion. 👍

Just my 2cents, take it or leave it. 🙂

Already mentioned something similar long before the launch. End result was the same. It just isn't possible to have your account or titles lent from your account to be played when a device is already running something.
In their eyes it could easily be seen as "this lad seems to try to login and play elsewhere while he's also already online on another device. Sounds like an attempt at account sharing to me!"

You're now able to see on deck that you're already in-game on a different device, the option now is to shut that off from your end or to continue on remote play/ that weird streaming thing

Also, where did you read on it being bannable to run a game in offline mode? No one had mentioned that in similar topics before

[Creepio]

GeneralClayman eredeti hozzászólása:

Also, where did you read on it being bannable to run a game in offline mode? No one had mentioned that in similar topics before

CorruptComputer eredeti hozzászólása:

And again I will tell you, playing in offline mode is not a valid solution. This will make all the achievements pop at the same time when you come back online, making it look like you used SAM, and you will get banned from achievement leaderboards for this.

CTRL+F and type "banned" to find that message above.